Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Had to change my ballot for the indieWire poll: turns out that "The Troubles We've Seen" didn't play out a full week at Anthology. So i had to make a substitution for my Best Documentary: "The War Tapes". I also made a mistake with a name: the cinematographer of "Sweetland" is David (not Daniel) Tumblety. I wish i could have listed second and third choices in the other fields. For example: though i was really knocked out by Lajos Koltai's direction of "Fateless", i was similarly impressed by Carlos Reygadas's direction of "Battle in Heaven" and by John Hillcoat's direction of "The Proposition".

Also got my notice to join Netflix as part of my IFP membership, so i can see the nominees for the Independent Spirit Awards. So i've just joined... there's a time limit, which is February 15. After that, the free membership (it's actually not "free", it's part of the IFP membership) is over. But the queue is pre-selected: it's the Independent Spirit nominees. Right now, a lot of the films aren't (yet) available, but will be soon (i hope) but i went through the queue and removed those films i've already seen, such as "The Road to Guantanamo" or "Half Nelson" or "Conversations With Other Women"... i didn't even remember "Conversations With Other Women" until i looked at the "queue" page, and saw that it was the split-screen film with Helena Bonham Carter and Aaron Eckhardt. The title didn't ring any bells, but once i saw the poster art, i remember the experience of seeing that movie, and the gimmick of the split-screen. Wim Wenders's "Land of Plenty" is the first film in the queue, so i should be getting the DVD in the mail soon. But that had such a short run at the IFC Center, and i missed the (one) press screening. So i'm glad i'll finally get to see it. (I wish that there was a category for best music in the indieWire poll and the Independent Spirit Awards, because the absolute best score this year was Ernst Reijsiger's majestic score for Werner Herzog's "The Wild Blue Yonder".)

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About Me

Daryl Chin is a multimedia artist, critic and curator. He was Associate Editor of PAJ: A Journal of Performance and Art from 1989 to 2005. He co-founded the Asian-American International Film Festival, was on the Board of Directors of NewFest (The New York Lesbian and Gay Film Festival) and Apparatus Productions. With Larry Qualls, he created over 30 theater/performance pieces from 1975 to 1985.